Page:The Dial (Volume 76).djvu/75

Rh But this silence of the cavern occurred only when it received its devotees. On certain days, more often in autumn than in the other seasons of the year, and at certain hours—at the drawing in of evening—there came from the depths of the cavern a mysterious music veiled in the mist of an aroma, intoxicating and unearthly. There came the sound as of the song of a numerous procession, a moving, melancholy song as sung by many persons. But the melancholy of that distant and melodious complaint was very sweet and soothing. It was on hearing that, that a great many of all those who continually hovered around the cavern's mouth, hurried into the depths inside.

All kinds of investigations had been made. A man would go in tied with a stout rope, so that he might be pulled out when he signalled: and every time this was tried, the rope had finally been pulled out, untied, and without there having been any signal. Once they had welded a metal belt around a man's waist, and welded a chain to that: and they had pulled out belt and chain without the man. How could he have freed himself Another time a man had gone in carrying the corpse of a friend—they wanted to see whether the cavern received the dead. The next morning the corpse was found in the pathway in front of the turning; but of the living man that had carried it in nothing more was ever known, just as in every other case. And after that there could be no doubt that the cavern admitted only the living.

Another experiment was thought of and several times tried: and that was to drive animals into the cave. These came out shortly afterwards, but they came out frightened and upset; and they never again in their whole lives made any sound. They came out mute. An animal that returned from the cavern did not bark, or mew, or bleat, or low, or roar, or cackle, during the rest of its life. And no one ever saw the cave entered by a toad, a rat, a lizard, a fly, or a gnat.

More than once, too, they had tried having several people go in attached one to another by their hands. And as soon as the first one had reached the turning and gone around, he was loosed from his neighbour, no matter how firmly he might be held, and he was lost in the silence of the cavern's depth; or else the whole string of men was lost there.

Every class of people had been lost in the mysterious and musi-